Television and computer projectors are either placed on a table or are mounted to the ceiling. When these devices are mounted they must often be adjusted to project the image onto a screen or wall. The adjustment often requires changing the vertical and or rotational angle of the projector. Minor angular changes will have a great effect on where the image is being shown because the distance from the adjustment point to the pivot is amplified based upon the distance the image is being projected. Early projector mounts used frictional slides or jack screws where an installer would loosen or turn one or more threaded clamps and rotate or move the projector on the slides. Later versions of projector mounts used gears that a user turned to alter the angle. The use of gears improved the installers' ability to make minor changes, but the addition of the gears increased the mounting height and complexity of the projector mount. Exemplary examples of projector mounts using this technology are disclosed below herein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,654 issued Oct. 19, 1982 to Franz Werner et al and U.S. Design Pat. No. D552,454 issued Oct. 8, 2007 to Shaun Fynn disclose frictional slides or swivels where the angle is adjusted by manually gripping the monitor or projector and physically rotating or turning the monitor or projector. While these patents disclose adjustable projector mounts, because of the backlash that is associated with frictional systems these mounts do not allow for finite positioning of the projected beam of a projector.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,068 issued Mar. 28, 2000 to Joseph Tcherny discloses a Low Profile LCD Projector Mount. The projector stand can be slid and locked into a base or lower element. This patent only provides front to back rotation of the mounting bracket. Adjustment is performed by loosening a screw clamp and manually rocking the LCD projector to achieve the desired angle. There are no provisions to alter the side to side orientation and because of mechanical backlash re-positioning of the projector would require several attempts.
U.S. Published Application 2007/0257181 published Nov. 8, 2008 to Jay Dittmer et al., discloses an Adjustable Projector Mount using integrated rack and integrated pinion gears to make adjustments to the angle of the LCD projector. The inclusion of the gears makes angular adjustment simpler with minimal backlash, but the integration of the gears, rack and pinion creates additional height and complexity to the projector mount.
What is needed is a projector mount where adjustment of the front to back and side to side is made with the head of a screw driver providing the function of the pinion gear. The proposed projector mount provides this function using integrated rack gears on the projector mount that are engageable and adjustable with a standard cross point screw driver.